Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 10:44 AM JST
Name:
AK
Ultra, maybe you could link them to my Tsunami Benefit in Hiroshima Thread. FG helped promote that show and we raised 400,000 yen.
Topic change:
Here's a news story I want to discuss...
Tokyo government's ban on foreign managers ruled constitutional
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a Tokyo Metropolitan Government provision banning non-Japanese officials from applying for managerial posts is constitutional.
The top court thus overturned a Tokyo High Court ruling in November 1997 that ordered the metropolitan government to pay 400,000 yen in damages to Chong Hyang-gyun, 54, a health care worker, who was denied the right to take a promotion examination.
"The metropolitan government's refusal to allow non-Japanese officials to take an examination for managerial posts does not violate the Constitution that guarantees equality under law," Presiding Justice Akira Machida of the top court's grand bench said as he handed down the ruling. The decision was supported by 13 of the 15 justices of the bench.
This was the first time that the top court ruled on the constitutionality of a nationality clause for public servants. The ruling is likely to adversely affect the nationwide trend of relaxing nationality requirements for the recruitment and promotion of non-Japanese civil servants.
The focal point at issue during the top court trial was whether the metropolitan government's refusal to allow non-Japanese officials to apply for managerial positions violates Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees equality under law and Article 22 that assures the people of freedom to select employment.
The high court claimed that the Constitution guarantees non-Japanese civil servants can assume managerial posts in local governments that do not involve official decision-making, and concluded the metropolitan government's measure is unconstitutional.
In its appeal, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government argued that all public servants in managerial positions are involved in official decision-making, and claimed that its refusal to let foreign nationals seek managerial posts is constitutional.
On the other hand, the plaintiff pointed out that it is wrong to interpret the fundamental law as banning foreign nationals from assuming public positions, and argued that the Constitution's guarantee of people's fundamental rights also applies to foreign nationals.
Chong had demanded 2 million yen in damages from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Jan. 26, 2005)
AK's question: How hard would it be for this woman to change her citizenship to JPN? This law applies to Koreans who were born here but hold Korean passports and are NOT Japanese... right? Damn, the JPN are stubburn
